ARCHIVES

"When one is deeply involved with an experience one enters into the process of discovering or inventing; one discovers in the act of exploring and one invents while expressing." (1970)

Line Drawings of Ganga Deviby Jyotindra JainJyotindra Jain looks at change and continuity of Madhubani art through the drawings of Ganga Devi. (1994)

Artists of the Third Epochby Badri NarayanBadri Narayan explores the emergence of new practitioners, painters and sculptors in the wake of Independence. (1965)

The painters of the Transitionby Jaya Appasamy"The legacy of the past was not cast off, ideas current before Independence projected their shadows into the future." The writer focuses on the creative progression of artists after British rule. (1987)

Drawing and the shifting focusby Santo Datta“Drawing was once a means of transmitting observations which no amount of learned words could achieve in many fields of enquiry and expression.” (1994)

TIMELINE: LANDMARKS IN INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY

With the shift towards the DSLR camera from the SLR film camera, the ability of the photograph to digitally reproduce itself assumes a new dimension. Photography becomes a continuum in the practice of performance and video art and covers a range of subjects that include gender and ecology.

During these decades photography actively intersects with the domains of art.
The photograph also becomes a medium to disseminate mass culture through advertising and entertainment. At the same time a generation of reputed photojournalists emerge, who document events in India’s volatile space.

During the 1960's photographers in India were confronted with unexpected changes. The more settled aspects of nation-building – large dams and state run factories, and the Green Revolution, were offset by wars, the ravages of food shortages, and the nation's effort to lift itself out of poverty.

The 1940's mark India's tumultuous crossover from colonial rule to Independence. Images were commissioned to document the nation's leaders, the newly formed industries, public works projects and cultural activities. Cinema photography in the hands of specialist studios brought in the era of romance.

1920 onwards photography in India acquired a catalytic role of representing and disseminating images of the nationalistic struggle. Newspapers like Young India, Navjivan, the Bombay Chronicle and the Hindustan Times were disseminators of the photographic image.

These two decades saw the rise of amateur and self-taught photographers. Women were seen in the forefront of this development. The beginning of the twentieth century marked the nascent phase of photojournalism in India; professional photographers were commissioned to cover all major events.

Photography of archaeological sites, topography and commercial views, reportage and documentary photography, portraiture and ethnology were expanding the use of the medium. Photography studios acquired a variety of props, furniture and backdrops to provide social context to the sitter.

The introduction of formal education in photography encouraged amateur enthusiasts to shape their talent professionally. The Archaeological Survey of India adopted photography to achieve accuracy in the documentation process. The trend of appointing court photographers grew among the royal families.

artists

Dhanapalby T. V. Kunhi Krishnan"Dhanapal was one of the earliest to break away from these limitations and recognise that art was something more than the slavish imitation of nature." (1965)

Gaganendranath Tagoreby Asok Mitra"Gaganendranath has painted the boundless rice fields, the temple on the river, the rows of palm and coconut, the hills shrouded in storm and mist, the village in the evening, or the punting boatman, with the same sympathy and skill as he has painted city roofs bathed in moonlight." (1964)

Artists Groups and Collectives

How to Feel a Leak?by CAMPCAMP elaborates on their work, THE RADIA TAP(E)S as part of The Ungovernables, New Museum, New York Triennial (2012).